POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



427 



equilibrium somewhere ; why not accept it 

 at once ? " Is not the earth one of the 

 forms of Siva ? As heat occurs naturally in 

 the sun and fire, cold in the moon, fluidity 

 in water, and hardness in the stone, so mo- 

 bility exists in the air. Every object has its 

 own properties, and the properties implant- 

 ed in some objects are wonderful." Bhas- 

 kara believed that the earth, possessing an 

 attractive force, drev.' to itself everything 

 heavy in the atmosphere surrounding it, 

 whence those bodies fall to it. " But," he 

 said, "how could the earth fall into the 

 ethereal space, since that space is equal on 

 all sides ? " 



Opposing Views of Arctic Exploration. 



— Admiral Bedford Pim, in a recent lecture 

 on " Arctic Exploration," related a conver- 

 sation he had had with Secretary of War 

 Lincoln, on the utility of the perilous ad- 

 ventures undertaken for that purpose. The 

 Secretary asked him, " What is the good of 

 the journeys to those regions, and how can 

 you defend the fearful loss of life, un- 

 necessarily, as I think, thrown away ? " 

 The admiral, in reply, recalled the biblical 

 command to replenish the earth and sub- 

 due it, and asked : " How can we possi- 

 bly do that if we are not even acquainted 

 with its land and water ? And then, with 

 respect to the loss of life, more men have 

 been slaughtered in one skirmish than have 

 been lost in the polar expeditions for four 

 hundred years ; in point of fact, the per- 

 centage of loss of Hfe in the polar regions 

 is less than in any other sea employment. 

 Then, some of the best examples of seamen, 

 both morally and physically, have been men 

 trained in all the hardships and dangers 

 and difficulties of the polar regions. I can 

 conceive of no better school. . . . The spirit 

 of enterprise is strongly encouraged by these 

 expeditions. And, depend upon it, if we 

 men are such arrant cowards, and so forget- 

 ful of our duty, as to abandon research im- 

 til somebody's flag is planted on the north 

 pole, the ladies will do it." Lieutenant 

 Danenhower opposes further attempts to 

 penetrate the polar area for the present. 

 While nothing useful is to be attained there 

 in the way of geographical discovery, it is 

 well to weigh the comparative importance 

 of investigation in that branch in other 



parts of the world. British America has 

 not been fully explored, though it possesses 

 an area more than eight times that of the 

 central polar region. Much work needs to 

 be done in Central Africa, the Himalayas, 

 New Guinea, and other parts of the world. 

 For hydrographic research, it is not neces- 

 sary to go to these regions, but the best 

 field for operations lies below the eightieth 

 parallel. As for the interests of meteor- 

 ology, "there is no special reason for be- 

 lieving that the meteorological phenomena 

 of the central polar regions differ essen- 

 tially from those observed near the borders, 

 and the possible advantages to be gained 

 would not alone justify further exploi-ation." 

 Neither is any great advantage to be gained 

 for magnetic and auroral observations. The 

 magnetic poles are known, and are in or 

 near already explored regions, and the most 

 brilliant auroral phenomena are observed 

 near them. In short, we know nearly as 

 much on all these subjects, or can study 

 them as well in the regions we have already 

 opened, as we could learn by going to the 

 pole. But "the time may come in the 

 progress of civilization and advanced knowl- 

 edge when the exploration of all the pres- 

 ent unknown parts of the torrid and tem- 

 perate zones shall have been completed, 

 and it will then be the occasion to explore 

 the ice-locked regions of the north pole " ; 

 and, " after having served with one Arctic 

 expedition, and having devoted seven years 

 to the study of the subject, ... I unhesi- 

 tatingly record myself as opposed to further 

 exploration of the central polar basin, with 

 our present resources. Tlie gradual exten- 

 sion of observatory stations in the interest 

 of meteorology, magnetism, and other scien- 

 tific branches, should be made, but national 

 support should not be given to another polar 

 expedition." 



Meteorology of the Congo. — Mr. A. von 



Danckelmann, a German meteorologist, has 

 been making observations at Vivi, in the 

 country of the Congo, and reports some curi- 

 ous results. During about a year that he 

 stayed there the barometrical column did 

 not vary more than ten millimetres ; even 

 the passage of tornadoes seemed to produce 

 no greater effect upon it. The year is di- 

 vided into rainy and dry seasons. During 



